


Familiar Faces (Unfamiliar Places)

by Sam88srt



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Found Family, Gen, M/M, Ozai (Avatar) Being a Terrible Parent, Pre-Relationship, Pre-Slash, Zuko (Avatar) Needs Therapy, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, Zuko's crew - Freeform, bamf zuko, except it's not, hopefully he's not too op sorry, minor discussion of abuse, pirate zuko, slight Identity Porn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-16
Updated: 2021-03-19
Packaged: 2021-03-24 09:47:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30070395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sam88srt/pseuds/Sam88srt
Summary: Family comes in all forms.Zuko's finally starting to understand what that means.
Relationships: Aang & Zuko (Avatar), Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 34





	1. Intro

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [If I long for the world, just a bit, will you forgive me for it?](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25368919) by [nvrlostword](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nvrlostword/pseuds/nvrlostword). 



> This is an au of a fantastic fic by nvrlostword, if you haven't read it I would really recommend it!! It super long and really well done
> 
> If you haven't read it here's the pre req for this fic:
> 
> Zuko ended up in the south pole for a short time as a child and became childhood friends with Sokka and Katara
> 
> Zuko thinks that Katara was killed in a raid and that it was his fault
> 
> Zuko "accidentally" became a pirate instead of hunting the Avatar
> 
> If you HAVE read the fic I've tweaked just a few things:
> 
> Zuko never got captured by Zhou
> 
> The letter is a non-issue here/not canon for this fic
> 
> Anyway! Hope you enjoy!

Although he assumed, given the situation, that his restraints could have been much worse, Aang would not have described his shackles as being particularly comfortable. The metal cuffs chafed against his bare wrists and being stuck perpetually standing with his shoulders being stretched just outside of their comfort zone was far from ideal. Still, the much more pressing issue was how utterly helpless he was.

Sure, he could still airbend through his mouth, but that was hardly enough to cut through the metal chains and the clock was ticking. Katara and Sokka had been barely holding on when he’d left them and he didn’t dare imagine what sort of state they were in now that they’d been left alone to fend for themselves for hours.

He was worried if he didn’t come back soon with the medicine their fevers could prove fatal.

_No one is coming for you._

Zhou was more right than he knew.

\--

The sound of clanging outside his chamber roused Aang from the light doze he had inadvertently fallen into. Before he could even begin to wonder what was coming for him, the door burst open and a dark masked figure stepped into the room.

Aang had seen that mask before.

“Wait... You’re the Blue Spirit aren’t you?”

The figure relaxed their posture and gave a slight nod in response.

“Are you here to save me?”

He couldn’t stop himself from flinching when the Blue Spirit sprang forward and, with a flash of their blades, Aang’s restraints were reduced to a pile of scrap on the floor.

Aang took a moment to rub at his wrists, but when the Blue Spirit started to walk away he rushed forward with a burst of airbending to catch up.

“Thanks for setting me free, I’m Aang.”

As they ran through the halls Aang used his airbending to soften his footsteps, but somehow the Blue Spirit was even lighter on his feet and just as fast. Realizing his rescuer wasn’t going to respond without further prompting, he whispered, “What’s your name?”

The silence stretched between them and Aang realized he would have to give up all hope of conversation with this mysterious figure.

“...It’s Lee”

Or not. Aang grinned. “Nice to meet you Lee. Thanks for coming.”

\--

They had been _so close._

But here they were on the wrong side of the final gate and surrounded both in the sense that there were soldiers all around them but also they were quite literally surrounded by a ball of fire that burned too hot and was creeping ever closer as Aang exhausted what little reserves he had left. He didn’t know how much longer he’d be able to keep them from getting burned.

“Hold your fire!” Commander whatever-his-name-was shouted, “The Avatar must be captured ali-”

Before he could even finish his sentence, a wave of water crashed down on them from above and in the blink of an eye, had frozen solid, capturing the soldiers in a prison of ice. Sideburns couldn’t even move his jaw, he was so encased; though his hands were already glowing red as he attempted to melt himself out.

“Blue!!”

Aang looked up as a rope ladder was thrown down to them. The two of them started climbing as quickly as they could, even as the ladder began to be hoisted up by the two people Aang had to assume were Lee’s allies.

“Nice to see you’re still in once piece.” one of them, who seemed to be a woman from the Water Tribe given the outfit, clapped Lee on the back.

The other, a fairly young looking Water Tribesman, handed Aang a metal handle and shouted “Hold on!” which turned out to be the only warning he received before being pushed off of the wall.

He held back a scream before realizing he was actually flying through the air, rather than falling straight to the ground.

By the time he finished his descent he was laughing and whooping in excitement. He was met on the ground by two more of Lee’s allies who greeted him with similar smiles and cheers of their own.

The second his feet touched ground he spun around to see his rescuers zipping through the air the same way he had. Lee was the last one on the line and when he was halfway down he set the rope on fire behind himself, presumably to ensure they wouldn’t be followed. As a consequence, the rope broke before he could reach the ground and he tumbled to a stop as gracefully as one can before springing to his feet and running past them. 

“Come on! Let’s go!”

And with that, the whole group dashed off into the forest, Aang hot on their heels.

\--

They finally stopped to rest in a clearing far enough away from the Fire Nation prison to regroup. A woman who was clearly a Kyoshi warrior punched Lee in the arm, though it clearly wasn’t meant to hurt. Much.

“That’s our captain for ya!” She grinned, “Now we can finally add ‘Saved the Avatar’ to our rep sheet!”

The rag-tag group laughed and cheered, a couple of people clapped Aang on the back, happy to see he was ok even though they’d never met before.

Aang scratched the back of his head sheepishly. “Thanks for rescuing me. I don’t know what I would have done if you guys hadn’t come to help. Especially you Lee.” He tried to address him directly but the man was keeping to the outer edges of the group (and, incidentally, as far away from Aang as one could get without leaving the clearing entirely). “Thank you for everything you’ve done for me today.” Aang bowed to him in respect.

It was hard to tell with Lee still wearing the mask, but he seemed to hold eye contact with Aang for a long moment before he finally turned away. 

“...Don’t mention it”

And then he walked off into the forest.

“Don’t worry about him,” The Kyoshi warrior gave Aang a friendly nudge, “our captain just prefers to keep to himself.”

“Yeah,” the older Water Tribe man piped up, “I wouldn’t take it too personally, and, in fact, I don’t!” This was met by laughing all around, although Aang wasn’t quite sure he understood the joke.

The Kyoshi woman said “To be honest, I’m surprised he even told you his name. You must be special.” She winked and Aang was suddenly overcome by the desire to be anywhere other than where he was currently.

“Haha, yeah. Um,” he waved his hands in front of his face, “I really appreciate the save guys, unfortunately, I have to go though. My friends are really sick and I’m going to have to find them some more frozen frogs, so, uh, thanks again!” He dashed up into the tree’s before anyone could respond.

....

“Did he say frozen frogs?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!! This is just the intro obviously, the rest should be out soon! If you're interested in this fic please please please read Finding Zuko it's lovely and goes way further than this fic ever will haha


	2. Coming Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nvrlostword, if you're reading this I would like to thank you for letting me borrow your beautiful characters and play in your world! I really enjoyed writing this and I hope they're not outrageously out of character haha
> 
> Anyway, hope you guys enjoy <3

This was all Aang’s fault. Zhou was only here because he was looking for the Avatar, Jeong Jeong had only allowed himself to be found because he was trying to keep Aang and his friends safe, and now there he was, surrounded by Fire Nation soldiers and Aang was too far away to do anything about it.

In a whirlwind of fire, Jeong Jeon had disappeared and Aang breathed a sigh of relief.

“It’s a trick! He’s run off into the woods!” The Admiral shouted, “Find him!”

Before the first soldier could even step out into the line of trees however, their feet were frozen to the ground by the large sheet of ice that had suddenly spread across the ground.

“What?!”

Aang turned to see a new ship had arrived on the scene. One of the water benders from the prison was standing with his arms outstretched, taking the soldiers down one by one by handcuffing them with ice and gluing the cuffs to the ice on the ground.

At the bow of the ship stood the Blue Spirit. With a dramatic swipe he armed himself with a sword in each hand and pointed one toward where Aang and Zhou were standing.

Even knowing Lee was on his side, Aang felt somewhat threatened by the gesture.

Zhou bellowed out in anger and whipped fire out at Aang, trying to take control of the situation. Before he could dodge, Lee was suddenly between the two of them deflecting the blow.

“Stay back.” It was spoken so softly it could only have been meant for Aang to hear, but he was reluctant to leave Lee to fight Zhou all on his own.

“The Blue Spirit.” Zhou said it with such distaste that Aang had to wonder if this fight was more personal than he had originally assumed.

Hearing crashing and cheering, Aang looked over to see Lee’s crew ransacking the Admiral’s ships while the two fought. The Kyoshi woman from the prison escape waved at him.

“Hey Avatar! Nice to see you again!”

He waved back, “Hey guys! Thanks for coming!”

A Lick of flame near his face had him ducking and turning his attention back to the fight in front of him where Zhou and Lee were exchanging blows. Despite how obviously skilled Zhou was in the art of destruction, it was just as obvious that Lee held the upper hand in this fight. As Lee ruthlessly slashed at him with his blades, it seemed it was all Zhou could do just to keep from getting badly injured.

Rather than come to his aid, Lee’s crew seemed content to stand on the sidelines and egg the two on.

“Get him with a left Blue!! He’s totally open!!”

“Come on Sideburns! I thought you were supposed to be a great warrior or something!”

That was the scene Sokka and Katara were met with when they burst into the clearing, Sokka jumping off of Appa to land next to Aang with his boomerang drawn. “What’s going on?”

“Jeong Jeong disappeared into the forest!”

“Ok, great, but what’s with swords and the glaciernut gallery over there?”

Just then, Lee avoided Zhou lashing at his feet with a whip of fire by jumping into the air, planting a foot on Zhou’s head to use as leverage as he sprang up, simultaneously knocking the Admiral to the ground and he finished with a spin so he was standing over him with both swords at the ready.

“....Alright, I’ll admit he’s pretty good.” Before long Sokka was joining the crew in cheering Lee on. “Get ‘em sword guy!”

“Sokka” Katara rolled her eyes, “He’s obviously the Blue Spirit.”

“ _That’s_ the Blue Spirit?!”

Katara rubbed at the bridge of her nose and sighed. She had known the stories about the Blue Spirit had caught her brother’s attention but she hadn’t realized until just now how uncomfortable it would be to watch him have such an embarrassing crush this up close.

Lee got in a good hit to the back of Zhou’s head and the fight came to an abrupt end as Zhou was suddenly passed out on the ground. Two of Lee’s crewmates rushed over and began tying Zhou up and dragging him over to where they had dumped all of the other soldiers they had incapacitated.

Sokka ran up to Lee, “That was awesome! You’ve gotta show me how you did that move with the-” he started jabbing at the air and making sound effects to mimic the fight. “I’ve gotta say, you really live up to the rumors.”

Sokka might not have realized it, but Aang could tell Lee’s posture had immediately stiffened the second Sokka had approached. The crew obviously noticed as well as they had suddenly become quiet and were all now looking directly at Sokka.

Aang walked up to Lee and Sokka, hoping to defuse some of the tension. “Hey, thanks for the save! That’s twice now I owe you.”

“Hey!” Sokka turned to Aang, “You met the Blue Spirit before and didn’t tell us??”

Aang threw up his hands in defense, “Sorry Sokka-” Lee visibly flinched, “You guys were sick and it just didn’t seem as important at the time.”

Sokka crossed his arms. “Well, next time, warn a guy _before_ he looks like an idiot in front of the cool guy with swords.” He turned to Lee, “Hey, you mind if I ask you something? I’ve heard you had a run in with the Fire Nation prince” Aang hadn’t thought Lee’s posture could get any more rigid but he somehow managed to exceed his expectations. “Any chance you could give us the details?”

Lee turned away from them. “Why would you want to hear about that coward?”

_”Excuse me??”_

Lee now had his back fully facing them. Aang watched as he clenched his fist. Was he preparing himself to speak? Or was he pushing through his anger? 

“You’re traveling with the Avatar, aren’t you? You must know what I mean. His family is personally responsible for this hundred year long war, a war that has caused mass suffering and destruction of culture across the four Nations, not to mention the extinction of the Air Nomads. But, setting all of that aside, the Prince himself is a spineless coward. Privileged and weak. The Fire Nation doesn’t even want him and the rest of the world is better off without him.”

Sokka had gone from bristling to outright seething by the end of the speech. 

“Shut your _Spirits damned mouth_ ”

He brandished his club in a decidedly non-friendly way, but before Aang could even begin to stop him two members of Lee’s crew had already jumped in between Sokka and their captain to defend him.

“Hey! Put the weapon down kid!”

“Seriously Sokka” Aang put a hand on his shoulder, “Just walk away.”

“Why doesn’t your _illustrious leader_ apologize for what he said?!” He gestured at Lee with his club, “What, you think just because you have some fancy footwork and a few bodyguards you can just say whatever you want?”

“Why do you even care so much?” Lee asked, finally spinning back around to face him.

“The Prince is a good person!” Sokka tried to physically shove his way forward to get closer to his new sworn enemy. “He’s certainly a better person than you! What right do you have to say such horrible things about him?! You’ve probably never even met him and you just use that as an excuse to throw all of your frustrations on his shoulders.”

Lee spoke in a quiet voice, Aang could barely even hear him, “You don’t have any Idea what you’re talking about.”

Sokka tried to push forward again and one of the crew members took a swipe at him to force him back. “That’s it kid, if you don’t back off right now-”

Before she could even finish her sentence Lee jumped between the crew and Sokka, a sword on either side of him with the flat side out to deflect their blows.

“Stop. Don’t hurt him, he’s just a civilian.”

“But Captain! He’s obviously a Fire Nation sympathizer and he was trying to hurt you! He’s probably just traveling with the Avatar so he can turn him over to the Fire Nation when he gets the chance.”

“My brother is _not_ a Fire Nation sympathizer!” 

Aang watched Lee’s entire body seem to seize up as Katara finally approached the group and stood by Sokka’s side.

“I’m sorry, my brother’s just a bit of an idiot. We’ll leave you in peace.”

There was a long moment where everyone eyed each other, still unsure if this would end peacefully or not, before Lee finally spoke.

“....Katara?”

The shock and sudden interest from Lee’s crew was palpable. This had not, however, been the right thing to say from Sokka’s perspective, apparently.

“How do you know my sister?!” Lee tried to take a small step toward her but Sokka was quick to put himself in between them. “Stay away from her!”

“I...” The hesitance in Lee’s voice, it was as if Aang was hearing a completely different person. Gone was the quiet confidence Lee usually spoke with, now his voice shook and he seemed completely unsure of himself. “I thought you were dead.”

Some of his crew exchanged glances, but Lee seemed to be completely oblivious to the world around him. He slowly removed his mask, and Aang had to stifle a gasp seeing the quite honestly painful looking scar on his face.

The Blue Spirit and the Water Tribe siblings spent a long moment just taking in the sight of each other.

Lee seemed to come back to himself eventually though. “Oh...” His hand slowly came up to touch his face and he turned away slightly. “You probably don’t recognize me huh?”

Another beat passed before Sokka spoke up. “....Zuko?”

Lee looked up into his eyes. Sokka slowly stepped forward, brought his hand up, and caressed the other man’s forehead with his fingertips. A small mark lit up and then faded with Sokka’s touch.

“Oh Spirits, it _is you_ ” He grabbed Lee(Zuko?) in a crushing hug and brought a hand up to cradle the back of his head. _”Zuko”_

Lee’s hand hesitantly came up to spread across Sokka’s back and then he buried his face into his neck and hugged him back just as tightly.

Katara, not one to be left out, came up from the other side and suddenly Lee was firebender filling in a Water Tribe sandwich. 

“Um? Hello?” Aang called out, “Does someone want to fill me in on what’s going on here?”

A teary eyed Sokka finally pulled away and then punched Lee’s arm. “You jerk!! I was really mad you know!”

“Seriously guys-”

“I’m enjoying the show” One of the crew members interrupted, “Believe me, but we should probably get a move on before that Firebender wakes up.”

Lee nodded, “Right, come on” he gestured for them to move toward the shore, “We can continue this on my ship.”

\--

A clearly Water Tribe member of Zuko’s crew who had introduced himself as Iluak casually strolled up to Sokka after they had gotten a good distance from the shore where they had abandoned the Fire Nation soldiers. Zuko had burned down their ships before they left to ensure they wouldn’t be followed.

“So” Iluak threw his arm around Sokka’s shoulders in and pulled his head in close as if to have a private conversation, ”Are you the Captain’s long lost lover or something?”

“What?!” Sokka felt his face heat up, “No! Wh-why would you even think that?”

There was laughter all around him, not just from Iluak but also other crew members who were apparently eavesdropping, and even his traitor of a sister. Sokka ducked his head at the realization he had an audience for this particularly embarrassing conversation.

“Uh-huh” Iluak smirked, “Real convincing”

“We’re just friends!”

“Well” Mine, who Sokka had to assume was one of the Kyoshi warriors who had joined the Blue Spirit’s crew, cut in. “I’ve never met a friend of the Captain’s before, but the look on your face whenever he’s around tells me you won’t be ‘just friends’ for long.”

Sokka sputtered and everyone started laughing at him again. What was that even supposed to _mean?_

“Alright guys” Zuko called from right behind him and Sokka whipped around completely mortified. Tui and La, how much of that conversation had he heard? “Now that we’re safe, I’m sure everyone has a lot of questions.”

All of his embarrassment was completely forgotten as he immediately zeroed in on the only important thing in the entire ship. 

“Yeah, hello, I have a question. _When_ were you going to tell us you have an isopuppy and why am I not currently petting him?”

“I would also like to know this.” Aang chirped.

Zuko sighed and rolled his eyes but he looked more fond than annoyed so Sokka ignored it. He tossed Sokka a dog treat and suddenly there was a surprisingly heavy isopuppy barreling into him and knocking him to the ground.

“Good thing we’ve got Sokka looking after us” Katara snarked, “He can withstand any assault, so I’ve heard.”

Sokka paid her no mind, far too busy petting this very, very good boy.

“Now, if anyone has _else_ has any _important_ questions?”

Mine spoke up, “Oh, so you’re finally going to tell us something about yourself?”

Zuko looked away and said nothing, an answer in and of itself.

Aang said “Wait, you guys really don’t know anything about him?”

“Well,” The Water Tribe woman- Sokka thought she’d said her name was Kesuk- replied, “We know his name’s Lee. Although...” she scratched at her cheek, “Didn’t you call him Zuko? So who knows” She shrugged.

“He’s a guy” Iluak said, “Or, at least, he hasn’t told us otherwise.”

“He’s amazing with those swords and a master firebender.” The younger Water Tribe man, Nattiq, said.

“I’m not really that good-”

“ _Don’t_ listen to him.” Mine said. “He’s a liar. He always says he’s not that good but he’s an incredible firebender.”

The other Kyoshi woman gestured with her hands, Kesuk then said, “Shizu says the Captain won’t tell us what kind of food he likes but- and I quote- ‘I can tell he has a bit of a sweet tooth’”

Zuko was blushing now, not that Sokka was paying attention to that sort of thing. “That’s NOT true.”

“Oh no” Sokka cut in with a smirk, “I can 100% confirm that it is.”

Mine laughed and clapped Sokka on the back. “Alright Water Tribe boy, I can tell you’ll fit in here just fine.”

“The name’s Sokka.”

“Nice to meet ya kid,” Iluak physically inserting himself back into the conversation as he invaded Sokka’s personal space again, “Now tell us what other dirt you’ve got on our captain here.”

“ENOUGH”

Everyone went silent and Sokka felt the good cheer immediately drain from the air around him, leaving only an uncomfortable pit in his stomach in its wake.

“I don’t tell you guys these things for a reason.” Zuko took a shuddering breath and shook his head. “It’s not safe. The less you know about me, the better.”

Zuko’s words hung in the air for a long moment before Kesuk spoke. “Lee, we’re your crew. We’ve followed you into dangerous situation after dangerous situation. We’ve risked our lives for you, because we believe in you. You said it yourself that if we get caught by the Fire Nation, we’ll probably be sent to a tier 2 prison at best, even without us knowing anything about you we couldn’t figure out just simply living on the same ship as you.”

As the situation really sunk in for Sokka, he had to wonder what had brought Zuko to this point. It seemed like such a lonely life he was living. What would cause his friend- who had always been so quick to show care for others and had always been so open with his feelings- to become so closed off?

Kesuk continued, “I know you want to protect us, but we care about you. And if caring about you means adding more danger to our lives, I’d rather stand by your side and face it together then leave you to face it alone.”

There were murmured agreements around the circle and they smiled at Zuko reassuringly. He looked down at his hands.

“Are you sure you want to know?” His gaze flicked up at them, “Once I tell you this, there’s no going back.”

He looked each crew member in the eye one at time and they each gave him an acknowledgment in their own way.

Finally, he sighed. “I’m not who you think I am. My name isn’t Lee, it’s Zuko.” He paused, “I am the banished Fire Nation Prince.”

Someone gasped. Sokka couldn’t say who though, he had eyes only for Zuko in that moment, the boy who had been forced to become a man far too soon and who suddenly looked so small.

“My father is a famously cruel man. You’ve all witnessed the effects of his cruelty first hand.” Zuko’s hand lifted up to lightly touch his cheek, seemingly without him even realizing it. Sokka’s blood ran cold.

“I was... far from having the honor of being his favorite child. It didn’t matter how hard I trained, how much tried to live up to his expectations, I was always a failure in his eyes. Despite this, I still looked up to him. I still craved his approval. One day, I managed to convince my uncle to let sit in on a war council meeting.” Zuko’s fist clenched in the fabric of his pants and he barked out a laugh. “I wanted to learn how to become a good Firelord. I suppose I did."

"There was this one general, he wanted to sacrifice an entire division of new recruits so a more experienced group could come in from behind while the enemy forces were distracted and take them by surprise. All I could think about was that group of new recruits. Loyal Fire Nation citizens who were being sent to slaughter. Despite my uncle’s warnings, I spoke out against the plan. That was a mistake.

Zuko closed his eyes. Sokka wondered what he saw behind them.

“My father declared that I had committed an act of complete disrespect and, in consequence, I would have to fight an Agni Kai. I accepted. If I had known then what I know now, I might not have. I had been expecting to duel the general who I had disrespected, but when I turned to face my opponent that day, I found myself face to face with my own father.” Zuko’s voice cracked and he took a moment to collect himself. Sokka had to dig his fingernails into his leg to stop himself from reaching out to comfort him.

“I got down on my knees and begged him to spare me. I didn’t want to fight him. He called me a disgrace” Zuko turned away, as if he could hardly stand to hear his own words. “He gave me this scar” He touched his cheek, “Both as a punishment and a reminder of how worthless I am. Then he banished me. The only way for me to return home with my honor restored was to capture the Avatar in my fathers name.” Sokka thought he was going to be sick. “An insult, since at the time, the Avatar hadn’t been seen in over a century and therefore I would be left searching for the rest of my life. No matter how hard I tried I would never be able to return home. I still looked for a time. And thankfully, now that I have you I can finally return to the Fire Nation and be welcomed back as the Crown Prince.” He made eye contact with Aang for the first time since beginning his speech, and Sokka was left reeling at the sudden betrayal.

Then Zuko cracked a smile.

“Just kidding, obviously. I realized a long time ago that what the Fire Nation is doing is horrible, and although this life isn’t perfect, I’m now grateful I was banished.” He smiled, looking around at his crew. “It would be an insult to say I’d rather spend a night with this crew than a day back at that palace, in truth, the palace doesn’t even compare.”

Mine started laughing and Nattiq cheered and then all at once the whole crew was clustered around Zuko, some crying, others giving him light punches and laughing, none missing there chance to give him a strong, heartfelt embrace.

“Hey, that joke about capturing the Avatar?” Aang called out, “NOT funny!”

“You’re right, it wasn’t funny” Zuko called back, “It was hilarious.”

Sokka shook his head, “You should definitely leave the jokes to the professionals. Trust me.”

In truth, Sokka would have preferred to scoop Zuko up and bundle him in furs so that he could spend a long time reassuring himself and Zuko that he was ok and that Sokka would _never_ let something so horrible happen to him ever again. He knew that wasn’t necessarily what Zuko wanted though and even if it was, he wouldn’t be able to pry him away from his crew for some time.

Zuko was able to somewhat worm his way out of their clutches to talk to the Gaang, although they didn’t let him get very far. “So, are you guys planning on spending the night with us, or did you need to get going?”

Sokka’s stomach dropped out. “What are you saying? You’re coming with us aren’t you?”

Zuko looked around at his crew. “I’m sorry Sokka, it’s not really safe-”

“Of course we’ll come with you!” Iluak cut in, clapping Zuko on the back as he physically inserted himself into the conversation.

“Wh- _Hey!_ Am I the captain or not?!”

“Come on Captain,” Kesuk interjected, “We can all tell you want to stay with your boyfriend.”

“Don’t you think he’s a bit young for the Captain?” Nattiq said.

“We’re the same age!!” Sokka protested hotly, “And I’m not his boyfriend!”

“Then how’d you know I was talking about you?”

“I-!!!” Sokka’s mouth closed with a click and his face flushed an even darker shade of red. He crossed his arms and grumbled to himself.

“Wait...” Mine said slowly, “How can you be the same age as Lee? You’re just a kid.”

“I’m not a kid! I’m 15!”

“....Exactly”

They all looked over at Zuko with growing horror.

_”Fifteen?”_

“Technically I’m sixteen.”

“You’ve been traveling with us for the past two years...” Iluak said with dawning horror

“And that scar wasn’t fresh when we first met him.” Mine said

“Oh Spirits” Iluak groaned, “You single handedly broke into a Fire Nation prison- one built to hold ‘dangerous war criminals’ I might add- and released all of the prisoners at _fourteen._ ”

“Ok, ok, I get it” Zuko waved his hands in front of his face to put some emotional distance between him and his crew, “Can we please just move on?”

“ _No_ we can’t just move on” Mine gripped at her hair, “I’ve seen some horrible people out in the world but a father who would do that sort of thing to his own son when he was only _thirteen_ is by far the most abusive, fucked up thing I’ve ever heard of.”

“And Lee” Iluak said, “The way you talk about yourself... I thought you hated the Prince but, you _are_ him. Not to mention the way you throw yourself into danger like it’s nothing, like your own life is worth nothing. I know you’re very capable of handling yourself, but honestly? Given what you just told us? I’m worried about you.”

“I-” Zuko hesitated, “I don’t know what to say. I mean, if you’re asking if I’m ok I guess the answer’s probably no but I don’t really know what else you’re looking for from me.”

Iluak sighed, “I know. I know you’ve already done a lot today by opening up with us. I guess it’s just hard to know that you were in a bad place and we weren’t able to help. That we didn’t even _know_ about it.” He shook his head, “But you don’t have to talk to us if you’re not comfortable. I’m sorry if it felt like I was pushing you.”

Zuko looked at him for a long moment, and then put a hand on Iluak’s shoulder. “I am grateful that you are a part of my crew.”

Iluak teared up and pulled Zuko into a tight hug. Zuko awkwardly patted his back.

He looked around at the people who had become more of a family to him than his own blood, and as he did, he realized he had never needed his father to restore his honor.

Zuko had found a more true sort of honor all on his own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Zuko letting slip he knows Katara and Sokka and they have a ~past~
> 
> His crew: 👀👀👀👀👀👀
> 
> Thanks for reading!! I hope you guys liked it!!  
> I probably won't be writing anything else for this (but you never know!) so if you liked this fic and you haven't read nvrlostword's yet I cannot stress this enough you've got to check it out it's fantastic.
> 
> btw constructive criticism is welcome, please just be kind <3


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